An Invitation to Pre-Lenten and Lenten Exercises with Jesus' Kerygma in His Sermon on the Plain

Some Christian ministers “sugarcoat” the teaching of Jesus, making it “soothing” to our ears. Perhaps, it is to make their congregations grow in popularity, as “sweetening” of Jesus’ teaching attracts more people as syrup attracts ants. It is particularly the case where a pleasure-driven seeking of happiness and positive psychology become a popular cultural norm.  However, is Christianity is all about making us feel good about ourselves?  Is preaching to make a pastor popular like a rock star for soothing messages?  

There is nothing wrong to preach about Jesus’ teaching to inspire congregations. In fact, it is important that we find inspiration, as well as meaning, in Jesus’ kerygma. If a good feeling is a natural consequence of an inspirational preaching of the kerygma of Jesus, that is great. However, if a sermon is to make congregations feel good for the sake of pastor’s popularity, then, it is not an authentic Christian ministry. The pastor’s narcissism may have obscured Jesus and his teaching when making congregation feel good becomes a purpose of ministry.

If you focus on the kerygma of Jesus, you notice that his teaching is not always soothing to our ear and does not always make us feel good.  It is rather challenging us to go through some radical changes in life in order to be Christian. It means that Jesus’ kerygma shall function as a catalyst for our metanoia so that we can spiritually grow to become like Christ (i.e. Philippians 2:5) by living a life in Christ (i.e. 1 John 2:5-6).

Yes, God sure loves us. Thus, Jesus really cares about our well-being not only on physical and psychological levels, but more importantly, on spiritual level. Most importantly, he loves us with great intimacy for us to be in him as he desires to be in us (i.e. John 14:20, 17:23).  His kerygma is delivered to us so that we can grow in faith, becoming like him and living a life in him, as let him be in us. Therefore, when the kerygma of Jesus is preached, we must keep in mind that it is for us to live a life in him, and, as Thomas a Kempis puts it, to imitate Christ by rediscovering who we are in Christ. How we feel about it is simply a natural consequence of this process, prompted by the kerygma of Jesus.  

Anyone who preaches about Jesus’ kerygma must honor the original intent of Jesus so that it will facilitate congregation’s spiritual growth to live their Christian life in Christ. Sugarcoating the kerygma and Jesus’ intention behind it in preaching is what a false shepherd (i.e. Ezekiel 34:2) does, as such a preaching only fatten the preacher in popularity at the expense of  the congregation’s spiritual need to become like Christ, to live in Christ.  A pastor’s role is to shepherd the congregation to live a life in Christ together – not to mislead them into wrong ideas about Jesus and his kerygma by sugarcoating it.

With this in mind, we can appreciate Jesus’ kerygma in his Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49), especially in vv. 20-38, as read for the Gospel Readings for the 6^th and the 7th Sundays in Ordinary Time on Cycle C.

As Jesus began the Sermon on the Plain, addressing to his disciples (Luke 6:20-49), Jesus said:

Blessed are the poor (v20)…blessed are the hungry (v21)…blessed are those who weep (v21)…blessed are the hated (v22), the excluded (v22), the insulted (v22), and the rejected (v22).

Love your enemies (v27)….do good to those who hate you (v27)….bless those who curse you (v28)…pray for those who mistreat you (v28)…turn the other check when someone strikes you (v29).

Do not let the person who takes away your cloak stop from taking what is under the cloak (v29)…do not refuse anyone who asks you and give to the person (v30)…..do not ask to return to you even someone takes what belongs to you (v31).

Do to others as we want them to do to you (v31).

Rather, love, do good, lend without expecting anything in return to those who you find very difficult to love, such as your enemies (v35).

usBe merciful just as our Father is merciful (v36).

Stop judging, and stop condemning (v37)

Forgive (v37)…Give (v38).

Jesus’ statements on the beatitudes (vv.20-22) and his commandments (vv.27-31, vv.35-38) are rather quite contrary to what we think of the poor, the afflicted, and those who are against us – the kind of people that we rather fight or not to deal with. None of these statements on the beatitudes and commandments of Jesus sound sweet. These commands of Jesus sound quite contrary to what our instinct, as well as worldly convention, don’t they? Nevertheless, Jesus teaches us that those whom we tend to think cured are blessed and to love those whom we find difficult to love.

The kerygma of Jesus in the above statements on the beatitudes and commandments to deal with our enemies challenges us to break away from the worldly conventional and transcend our instinctive view thoughts in order to adopt a new life that Jesus teaches. This shift in life sure requires metanoia as Paul indicates in Romans 12:2.

Perhaps, reflecting on Jesus’ challenging statements on the beatitudes and commandments in dealing with our enemies is a good Lenten exercise for our metanoia so that we can align ourselves with him, as we progress on our Lenten journey.  In this exercise, going verse by verse of Jesus’ statements on the beatitudes (Luke 6:20-22) and his commandments (Luke 6:27-31, 35-38) , we are likely to experience our resistance in response.  Acknowledging the resistance is every important because it is what Jesus called “the wooden beam in the eye”(Luke 6:42), as it is what keeps us accepting the way Jesus thinks and acts, which are reflected in his statements on the beatitudes and commandments in dealing with our enemies.

As Lent is near, are we ready to really experience metanoia by removing the obstacles in our eyes to see the truth in Jesus’ kerygma?  If ready, then, we can reflect on his comments on the beatitudes (Luke 6:20-22) and commandments in dealing with our enemies (Luke 6:67-31, 35-38) to diagnose where we can find “the wooden beam in our eye”(Luke 6:42).

Though poverty can be a subjective concept, as what is poor to one person may not be so to another, how many of us can honestly feel blessed to lose possessions and become poor, afflicted, humiliated, and grief-stricken over the loss, as Job did? Who among us would like to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who mistreat us, and turn the other cheek to those who strike a cheek? How many of us can let a person who robs us of our coats on a cold day also take away our shirts? Who among us do not mind someone taking our possessions without our permissions and not expecting the person to return them to us? 

Collectively, these are just some questions in reflecting on Jesus’ kerygma to reflect on his teachings on the beatitudes and his commandments in dealing with our enemies to help us experience metanoia necessary to life a new life of Jesus. With this reflective exercise, we can find ourselves conformed to the will of God, reflected in Jesus’ kerygma, not dictated by worldly and instinctive paradigms any more. By then, living a new life according to Jesus’ kerygma is no longer a drag but a joy, as we can experience the blessings even in what we have thought as curses and as we can joyfully observe Jesus’ challenging commandments in dealing with our enemies.

Be aware of "sugarcoated" teaching of false shepherds, as Jesus' kerygma is not always sweet to our worldly contaminated hearts and minds. Let us remove the obstacles, like "the wooden beam in our eye"(Luke 6:42), in us so that our Lenten journey will be very meaningful and result in a good fruit (cf. Luke 6:43-45).